HOUSTON, (Reuters) - Striking union workers at Chevron Corp's (CVX.N) Richmond, California, refinery voted on Saturday to ratify the latest contract offered by the company, ending a 10-week strike without achieving their goal of additional pay to counter rising health care costs, said sources familiar with the vote.þþAbout 500 workers represented by United Steelworkers (USW) union Local 12-5 began the strike on March 21 in a dispute over pay to match the rising cost of health care over the past few years in the San Francisco Bay area where the 245,271-barrel-per-day refinery is located.þþChevron has said striking workers would return to work in the weeks following the contract's ratification. At least 60 workers had crossed the picket line and returned to the refinery before a tentative agreement was reached on Thursday. read moreþþThe sources said the members of Local 12-5 ratified the contract by a narrow margin on Saturday.þþSpokespeople for both sides were not immediately available on Saturday.þþThe contract ratified on Saturday contains the terms of the national agreement reached between USW International negotiators and refinery owners in February, which provides a 12% pay increase over four years, according to the sources.þþThe strike began over long-simmering frustration among union members rising costs for their share of healthcare.þþTo make up the difference, Local 12-5 sought a 5% pay increase in addition to the pay raise in the national agreement. Chevron did not offer the local pay increase before the strike. It was not part of the ratified contract.þþThe USW filed charges on May 13 against Chevron with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board alleging the company had changed the terms of employment, engaged in coercive actions, including surveillance, and refused to bargain with the union.þþChevron has kept the refinery in operation with managers, supervisors and workers who crossed the picket line.þþ
Source: reuters.com
